| Adcrocuta Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeleton | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Feliformia |
| Family: | Hyaenidae |
| Subfamily: | Hyaeninae |
| Genus: | † Adcrocuta Kretzoi, 1938 |
| Species | |
A. eximia | |
Adcrocuta is an extinct genus of large hyena that lived in Africa and Eurasia during the late Miocene epoch. [1]
Fossils of A. eximia are known from across Eurasia during the Vallesian-Turolian age of the Late Miocene (around 9.6-4.9 million years ago [2] ), spanning from Europe, including Spain, North Macedonia, France, Romania, Greece, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Ukraine and Bulgaria, [3] and Asia including Turkey, [4] [5] Kyrgyzstan, [6] Kazkahstan, Iran, China, [3] Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. [6]
Adcrocuta was comparable in size to a living spotted hyena, [7] with a body mass of around 30–100 kilograms (66–220 lb). [8]
Like the modern day spotted hyena, A. eximia was an obligate carnivore. [9] The teeth display adaptations to bone cracking, making it one of the earliest hyenas to display evidence of being adapted to this activity, though the shape of the upper carnassial tooth suggests that flesh also probably formed a considerable part of its diet. [10] Its body was powerfully built. Some authors have suggested that it was likely not a fast runner, and that it was primarily a scavenger [2] [10] though this has been disputed by other authors, who note its limb bones are no more robust than those of living spotted hyenas. [10] Its considerable size, which made it by a large margin the largest hyena in late Miocene Eurasia, likely made it effective both in kleptoparasitism (stealing kills from other carnivores), as well as predating on medium-large sized prey. [10] Based on the morphology of its brain cavity, it probably had a less sophisticated social system than modern bone-cracking spotted hyenas. [2]
Carnivora is an order of placental mammals specialized primarily in eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the sixth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species on every major landmass and in a variety of habitats, ranging from the cold polar regions of Earth to the hyper-arid region of the Sahara Desert and the open seas. Carnivorans exhibit a wide array of body plans, varying greatly in size and shape.
Hyenas or hyaenas are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae. With just four extant species, it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems.
Machairodus is a genus of large machairodont or ''saber-toothed cat'' that lived in Africa, Eurasia and North America during the late Miocene. It is the animal from which the subfamily Machairodontinae gets its name. Some species of the genus reached sizes comparable to a tiger, making them apex predators of the ecosystems they inhabited. It is currently usually placed as one of the most primtive members of the tribe Homotherini, and the ancestor of later members of the tribe.
Amphicyonidae is an extinct family of terrestrial carnivorans belonging to the suborder Caniformia. They first appeared in North America in the middle Eocene, spread to Europe by the late Eocene, and further spread to Asia and Africa by the early Miocene. They had largely disappeared worldwide by the late Miocene, with the latest recorded species at the end of the Miocene in Africa. They were among the first carnivorans to evolve large body size. Amphicyonids are colloquially referred to as "bear-dogs".
Crocuta is a genus of hyena containing the largest extant member of the family, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Several fossil species are also known, with the Pleistocene Eurasian cave hyenas either being regarded as distinct species or subspecies of the spotted hyena.
Ekorus ekakeran is a large, extinct mustelid mammal. Fossils, including largely complete skeletons, are known from the late Miocene of Kenya.
Metailurus is a genus of saber-toothed cat in the family Felidae, and belonging to the tribe Metailurini, which occurred in North America, Eurasia and Africa from the Miocene to the Middle Pleistocene.
Pachycrocuta is an extinct genus of prehistoric hyenas. The largest and most well-researched species is Pachycrocuta brevirostris, colloquially known as the giant short-faced hyena as it stood about 90–100 cm (35–39 in) at the shoulder and it is estimated to have averaged 110 kg (240 lb) in weight, approaching the size of a lioness, making it the largest known hyena. Pachycrocuta first appeared during the late Miocene. By 800,000 years ago, it became locally extinct in Europe, with it surviving in East Asia until at least 500,000 years ago, and possibly later elsewhere in Asia.
Chasmaporthetes, also known as hunting or running hyena, is an extinct genus of hyenas distributed in Eurasia, North America, and Africa during the Pliocene-Pleistocene epochs, living from 4.9 million to 780,000 years ago, existing for about 4.12 million years. The genus probably arose from Eurasian Miocene hyenas such as Thalassictis or Lycyaena, with C. borissiaki being the oldest known representative. The species C. ossifragus was the only hyena to cross the Bering land bridge into the Americas, and ranged over what is now Arizona and Mexico during Blancan and early Irvingtonian Land Mammal ages, between 5.0 and 1.5 million years ago.
Agriotherium is an extinct genus of bears whose fossils are found in Miocene through Pleistocene-aged strata of North America, Eurasia, and Africa. This long-lived genus persisted from at least ~11.6–2.5 Mya. Materials from the late-surviving A. africanum in Africa have suggested that A. africanum died out during the early Gelasian.
Percrocuta is an extinct genus of percrocutid. It lived in Europe, Asia, and Africa, during the Miocene epoch.
Cave hyena are extinct species or subspecies of hyena known from Eurasia, which ranged from Western Europe to eastern Asia and Siberia during the Pleistocene epoch. It is well represented in many European caves, primarily dating to the Last Glacial Period. It was an apex predator that preyed on large mammals, and was responsible for the accumulation of hundreds of large Pleistocene mammal bones in areas including horizontal caves, sinkholes, mud pits, and muddy areas along rivers.
Barbourofelidae is an extinct family of carnivorans of the suborder Feliformia, sometimes known as false saber-toothed cats, that lived in North America, Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene epoch and existed for about 7.9 million years. Thought to be an independent lineage from the Nimravidae and Machairodontinae, which had all attained elongated canines, recent research argues that it may be a subfamily of the Nimravidae, extending its biochronological range into the Miocene, although this issue is not yet fully resolved.
Simocyon is a genus of extinct carnivoran mammal in the family Ailuridae. Simocyon, which was about the size of a mountain lion, lived in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs, and has been found in Europe, Asia, and rarely, North America and Africa.
Percrocutidae is an extinct family of hyena-like feliform carnivorans endemic to Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe from the Middle Miocene through the Pliocene, existing for about 8 million years.
Thalassictis is an extinct genus of terrestrial carnivore in the family Hyaenidae that lived in Asia during the Middle to Late Miocene and in Europe and North Africa during the Late Miocene.
Dinocrocuta is an extinct genus of large percrocutid, an extinct group of hyena-like carnivorans. It lived in Asia, Europe and Africa during the late Miocene epoch. It had very strong jaws that were able to crush bones. It considerably exceeded the size of living hyenas.
Lars Werdelin is a Swedish paleontologist specializing in the evolution of mammalian carnivores. His areas of scientific interest include the evolutionary interaction of carnivores and hominins in Africa, as well as the evolution and phylogeny of carnivore clades such as the Machairodontinae, the lynxes and the Hyaenidae.
Amphimachairodus is an extinct genus of large machairodonts. It is also a member of the tribe Homotherini within Machairodontinae and is most closely related to such species as Xenosmilus, Homotherium itself, and Nimravides. It inhabited Eurasia, Northern Africa and North America during the late Miocene epoch.
Herpestoidea is a superfamily of mammalia carnivores which includes mongooses, Malagasy carnivorans and the hyenas.
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